Interview Collection
　　Wen Lipeng, a professor at Central Academy of Fine Arts and famous oil painter
　　He’s made a lot of efforts. What’s most important about his studies in Europe is that he not only survived, but also attained academic achievements. Most importantly, he was not overwhelmed by the impact of foreign works. He did not change or lose his style and his pursuit of art per se, and did not go astray. Another important thing is that he never forgets his oriental and Chinese cultural identity in today’s society. In other words, as a Chinese, he has assimilated the essence of traditional and contemporary western art into his mind and Chinese art, creating this Spatial-calligraphy.
　　This work is magnificent. Therefore, he has integrated traditional painting and abstract art with conceptual art, which emerged in the post-modern era. These three kinds of art are mutually exclusive.
　　Conceptual artists think traditional art is boring; traditional artists think conceptual art is terrible. He has integrated all these things and infused his own views on life and love into them to create such a mixture of concrete, abstract and conceptual language. I personally think it’s very good and comforting. 　　It is not easy to for a returned student to attain such achievements.
　　We hope our students will become useful persons. He achieved remarkable results in China after graduation and his works won awards, but he hoped to learn more and go forward. We fully supported him. We often felt depressed because people of our generation had no chance to go abroad. At that time when China was isolated from the outside world, we had never seen original western oil paintings. Although we were university professors and teachers, we actually had never seen original foreign works, especially the most spectacular ones. Only after opening-up did we get the chance to go to study abroad. Therefore, we fully understood young people’s desire to go abroad. It was not easy in 1980s, so we helped them the best we could.
　　He was a student at No. 1 Studio of the Oil Painting Department of Central Academy of Fine Arts. We have four studios. Students at No. 1 Studio mainly study ancient traditional painting and artistic language; students at No. 4 Studio study modern languages. He was not a student at No. 4 Studio. 　　　Although not a student at No. 1 Studio, he was very broad-minded. He studied the ideas of No. 1 Studio on the one hand and drew on the ideas of other studios on the other. As a result, he was open-minded in the first place. After the 1985 ideological movement, he could accept new ideas readily and wanted to go abroad especially. He studied very hard abroad and assimilated the essence of German art, especially expressionism, creating such a work of art. I think it’s pretty good.

　　Wei Qimei, a professor at Central Academy of Fine Arts and famous oil painter
　　He was special because he worked hard and sought breakthroughs in art, especially the teaching procedures of that time. He was one of the brightest students. At that time, he and several students held an exhibition at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities. It is a small-scale exhibition in light of today’s standards, but at that time it represented a new trend of thoughts in the making. In the wake of the reform and opening-up, some young people were allowed to accept some western ideological trends they had never known before more quickly, and they made some attempts. He was a front runner. Therefore, it is a new ideological trend which emerged from the crevice.
His later work Shepherd Girl of North Sala was an original painting at that time. After he arrived in Germany, his artistic potential was brought into full play. The mere form of the sculpture Hug of Love is heart-shaking. As some people said just now, Spatial-calligraphy is a product of the integration of Chinese and western cultures which can only be achieved under favorable conditions. The artist must be excited, motivated and enthusiastic in creating such a work. He must also understand the Chinese and western cultures. Only when the artist is influenced by the western culture can he create such a work.
　　He could not realize the profoundness of the Chinese culture before he went abroad. The thought struck him after he went to Germany alone. Liu Yonggang is different from ordinary painters in that he grew up in Inner Mongolia. He received the same education of Han culture as we did, but since he grew up in Inner Mongolia, he could make another comparison, i.e. the comparison between Mongolian and Chinese. After arriving in Germany, he could compare Chinese with western languages which belong to different language families. This kind of clash must have aroused enthusiasm for creation in his mind. 　　The elements of pictographic Chinese characters are completely different from those of phonetic western alphabets. But at present, the elements of Chinese characters chosen by Mr. Liu are basically abstracted from the Small Seal Script. The basic component strokes of Chinese characters have certain curves. The Small Seal Script of the Qin Dynasty is a mature form of Chinese characters where he discovered the beauty and vitality of Chinese characters that represent the cultural spirit of the Chinese people.
　　Although the two-dimensional Chinese characters are still the carrier of culture and the embodiment of the potential of human life, Liu Yonggang’s discovery of the beauty of Chinese characters goes beyond the nostalgia and reminiscence of Chinese culture in a foreign country. This is not the case. He restored two-dimensional Chinese characters to the original state; therefore, the form is three-dimensional. Only by restoring Chinese characters to this three-dimensional form could they be substantiated and revitalized; only by restoring the understanding of Chinese characters themselves could their life and strength be fully manifested. In this case, it is manifested not only in the meanings of Chinese characters, but also in the component elements of Chinese characters. This can only happen abroad. The Chinese people are always confined to the meanings of a Chinese character, but foreign viewers look at not only your meanings, but also your component elements. Such an atmosphere brings vitality to Chinese characters and is in line with that kind of appreciation environment of the western culture. In the last century, a large number of expressionistic painters and artists emerged in Germany, a country with a large reservoir of philosophical, rational and analytic thoughts. He also considered this factor and therefore created such a soul-shaking masterpiece.
　　In the context of the present cultural exchanges, many Chinese artists are making efforts in this regard. This is the requirement of the times rather than a novel idea proposed by an artist. This is not the case. It is the historical trend and the call of the times. It is inevitable that many artists in China and foreign countries will think about how to manifest it with their own art when they are engaged in Sino-foreign cultural exchanges. Mr. Liu is one of those who have succeeded.
　　At least, he is better than certain Chinese painters abroad when it comes to transforming Chinese culture into artistic representation. Some Chinese painters abroad who long for Chinese culture and their homeland only are still at the stage of reminiscence, while what his works manifest is a kind of strength and life. This is quite obvious.
　　Tuo Musi, a professor at the Art Department of Inner Mongolia Normal University and famous oil painter
　　Liu Yonggang dares to think and act, has the ability to think and act, and is good at thinking and acting. He is more sensitive than ordinary people, but he is energetic. Some people are very sensitive but are not energetic. It won’t work. He is special in that what he will do next month might not be what he is doing now. He is very sensitive, which is a good thing for people of this age.
Many people don’t know what are the characters used in his Spatial-calligraphy, so they think they are Chinese characters. Actually, they are not Chinese characters but Phags-pa characters. Not official script, seal script or regular script, but another script. Nobody has every seen such an interpretation of this script, but the characters are inscribed on the rocks. He abstracted it out and fitted it together. It feels like two persons hugging each other.
　　I can imagine that if the land around it is flat and wide open, it can be discerned above the horizon and the effect will be different. In the pastoral area, we can see a Mongolian tent or a person riding a horse clearly when are far away for the same reason. All sculptures cannot be separated from the environment. A sculpture separated from the environment can hardly have its own effect. It’s always like that. Therefore, if his sculptures are placed in an environment like our prairie or Eerduosi, the feeling will surely be different. The feeling in Eerduosi is different from the feeling outside Eerduosi.
Jia Fangzhou, a famous critic
　　We can say that Shepherd Girl of North Sala is his first famous painting which won an important award at the 1987 Chinese Oil Paintings Exhibition. The reason why this work won the award is to a certain extent related to the pursuit of all oil painters: the Renaissance period is between the Middle Ages and the period of the emancipation of humanity, but one of the main tendencies of artists of the early Renaissance period is the deification of people, i.e. the manifestation of people’s divinity. 　　　Therefore, all artists turned their eyes on artists of the early Renaissance period, like Francesca. They found much inspiration in his works and created their own works of art. This painting by Liu Yonggang is such a work. You can see that her gesture and expression is a kind of expressionless expression. It feels like a frozen expression. The return to that kind of divine state was a new phenomenon at that time.
His nail fresco was created for an Inner Mongolian hotel when he was in Inner Mongolia Normal University. When I saw this work, I felt that it was quite novel. Although the theme of his work is the prairie, flock of horses, etc., the material he used is very peculiar. He ordered many nails of various lengths from the nailery. He drove the nails into boards or the walls to roughen them and create a kind of relief effect. I think that the use of materials is very peculiar, because every nail is an independent object. When many individual objects are grouped together, that effect is very interesting. I had never seen that effect before, and the use of this material can reflect Liu Yonggang’s creative spirit.
　　Between 1980s and early 1990s, many young artists went abroad. He also went abroad to seek for new opportunities and more artistic and cultural resources. This was a trend at that time. Liu Yonggang followed the trend and went to another country for more advanced studies and self-realization, which was a normal phenomenon. But in light of his whole career as an artist, I think it is a pity that he left China, because he was going very smoothly and fast in China. He won an award only two years after graduation and won an award again in 1989 when he had been away from his university for three years. 　We can say that he had begun to display his talent and that he was a promising young man in the painting circles. However, after 16 years, he went back with so many works. I felt surprised at first. He stayed abroad for many years and focused his attention on the traditional culture again after having digested, understood and accepted the western culture. So he linked the two cultures to create new works. The strength and momentum of his works were beyond my expectations. His later career proves that the eye-catching momentum of his earlier career has come back. The reason why I call him a talented artist is that an artist must meet a prerequisite. Not everybody can become an artist. Some learned people can become excellent scholars, but an artist must have good talent, which is inherent and cannot be acquired. We can only acquire skills and knowledge, but the sensitivity to art and life is an inherent ability. In this sense, I think he is a talented and gifted artist.
　　Liu Yonggang’s exhibition focuses on calligraphy sculpture. I named the exhibition “Spatial-calligraphy”. Why? It is because our calligraphy is symbolized and is a tool of linguistic symbolization. Since Cang Jie created Chinese characters, all our Chinese characters have been evolving in two dimensions and various scripts such as standardized script, cursive script, official script and seal script have emerged. However, their evolution and development is two-dimensional. At the beginning, Liu Yonggang also sought for a new two-dimensional representation of Chinese characters, but he gradually made them three-dimensional, making them stand and turning them into something three-dimensional like sculptures. I think this is a creation, because though Chinese artists have created many works with Chinese characters and many of them are very successful, he placed Chinese characters into the space, creating a three-dimensional form. This has never been seen before; therefore, from the academic perspective, it is an original creation and an academic inquiry.
　　His blue-white porcelain works are a new form created by means of destruction. As we all know, blue-white porcelain is traditional Chinese porcelain and Chinese art is world-famous for blue-white porcelain. All foreigners are filled with admiration as soon as ancient Chinese porcelains are mentioned. When Liu Yonggang creates a porcelain work, he shapes it first and then destroys it intentionally. It seems like a damaged product, but actually this is one of his very modern means of expression. After the original form is destroyed, a very special form emerges. People feel that it is special. I think he is unwilling to follow the ancient traditions in this regard. For example, if he creates some blue-white porcelain works that are very complete and bright and have not been destroyed, are they Liu Yonggang’s porcelain works? No. What we see is still the inheritance of traditions. He crushes, destroys, breaks and distorts this perfect form of porcelain vase because he has peculiar thoughts. He infuses his view on the form into it. I think its value lies in the fact that he inherits and promotes traditions by destructive means.
　　An artist who can only work with one material is not a creative artist, for example, a block print artist, oil painter or ink painter who can only create works on one medium with one material. As a creative artist, he is always trying various materials and is very sensitive to them. He might create works with anything. The same goes for installation artists and performance artists. He might find his artistic elements in what all of us think is rubbish or waste and turn it into a work of art. For example, Picasso assembled a bicycle handlebar and a bicycle saddle into a bull’s head. The handlebar became the bull’s horns and the saddle was turned into the shape of the bull’s head. This is a kind of creation. These two parts were rubbish at first, but he assembled them into a work of art. This is the sensitivity to materials or even the sensitivity to ready-made objects. Liu Yonggang has tried to create works with various materials. He studied oil painting at first and his major was oil painting. He should have become an oil painter, but he is not content with creating works with canvas and paint. He also uses ink and paper and makes sculptures. It shows the inherent creativity of the artist who is not confined to one area. He can seek for the source of his creativity in many materials.
　　He strikes me as a very young artist full of spirit and creativity. He creates works continuously. When I went to his studio, I saw him create one group of paintings at a time. I feel that his artist has an inexhaustible ability and explosive creativity. In reality, he is full of vigor and passion. He often comes to my home to talk with me. I think such an artist is truly full of vigor, full of spirit and full of creativity.
Liu Yonggang
　　What are others’ opinions? I think I’d like to hear all kinds of voices and read all kinds of reports whether they are positive or negative. I hope that there are people who criticize me and people who praise me.
　　In Germany, I infused the highly rational German spirit and the poetic traditional Chinese philosophical thoughts into my brain, found my own way and formed my own thought system. This is most beneficial to me.
　　When others tell me I am going well, I usually feel that bad things will soon come. Things that are too good are not good. Whenever that happens, I ask myself: where are good things? In other words, I need to start all over again, break away from what others or myself think is good, do it again and establish it again.
　　This is what I have been doing and what I will always do.
　　Don’t just take it as a sculpture, because it is far from a sculpture and represents something conceptual in my heart like a wall in an exhibition hall. The shape of its side turns out to be a line.
　　The side of my work is a person striding forward. This symbol stands for me. People say it must round. If so, it would be a circular sculpture, its form would be identical to the forms of others, like Rodin, Henry Moore, etc. and all artists’ works would be the same. I transformed language symbols into people’s symbols and then transformed them into my own symbols to speak the language of my own forms, express what I want to say and convey new information.

　　Ye Lifu, a famous oil painter
　　All children seeking knowledge in early 1980s were very persistent and devoted, unlike many young people studying music, sports and painting at present. It seems that some of them basically have no chance to study liberal arts or science and have chosen to study painting instead. But for the students of 1980s, it was a pursuit and aspiration for art.
　　I remember his home was in Genhe, more than 1,000 kilometers away from where I lived. It took 24 hours by train. He admired me and went to my office. Because I had left the office, he slept on the stairs there the whole night. When I saw the child the next day, his body was covered with dust. Ah, I was so impressed. He had not received any regular training on painting, but he had been painting for nearly 10 years since the age of 5. His feeling for painting was very good. After that, I gave him some regular training. I thought that he was more intelligent than his peers, because his performance in the training of each unit was outstanding. Besides, he could complete painting exercises very quickly and had a very good understanding of painting. For example, after I had taught the basics, the students drew geometrical objects at first. When ordinary students were drawing the objects in the second unit, he was already fully capable of drawing plaster head sculptures. Therefore, his progress was very fast. Later, I felt that this child had great potential. He wanted to go home for the holiday, but I asked him not to and said that we should lose no time in practicing. I took him to my home and taught him more. After more than a year, I felt that my pre-test training ability and level were not good enough for him. Later, I encouraged him to go to study in other places like Shenyang and Beijing.
　　An interesting episode occurred when he was studying with me. He brought his luggage but rooms 　were in short supply. I knew the manager of a cinema. I told him that I had two children who were poor but good at painting. I asked him whether they could draw posters for his cinema and live there. So the two children went to live in a small basement of the cinema. I was afraid that the children would spend too much time watching movies. I told them that they could watch but they should not just watch the excitement. I asked them to recollect the dialogues or scenes in the movies when they went back. Less than a week later, I went to see them. I found that the walls of the two children’s room were covered with memories pictures about the movies like comic strips depicting consecutive scenes, people and actions. At that time, the movies on screen were all Yugoslav war movies like Bridge and Walter defends Sarajevo. The children loved to watch them and their drawings were spectacular. Pictures of the scenes included the basic characteristics of the movie characters, and the dialogues were written below them. Wow, I couldn’t be more excited. Later, he went to Shenyang and Beijing where he met more knowledgeable teachers and then entered Central Academy of Fine Arts.
　　He took out some pictures he drew when he was in the kindergarten. It is hard to judge whether a young child has potential by his pictures. I think that there are music prodigies, violin prodigies and piano prodigies, but it is hard to say whether there is a painting wunderkind. However, after some training, he began to love it. He was gifted and worked very hard. Therefore, he is the brightest of all the students I have ever taught. If he were not talented at that time, his career would not be as terrific as today.
　　I had a talk with him yesterday. I told him that he has a firm character behind a gentle appearance. It seems that he is easy-going and congenial and observes oriental decorum. In fact, he pursues artistic excellence like a maniac.
　　Once, we took our students to a place two and a half kilometers from Genhe to sketch from nature. 　　When we were sketching, many students went to watch me sketch, but he did not. At that time, he admired and trusted me very much. I often met his parents and gave much attention to him. Many students were watching me sketch, but he sat there by himself drawing pictures. At that moment I thought, “What’s wrong with this child?” He said, “Mr. Ye, I like the landscapes you chose very much. I also want to sketch. I want to watch you sketch especially, but I also want to sketch from nature.” I said, “You’ve made the right choice.” So he drew pictures at the side. He was only 16 or 17 years old then, but he had his own views. Ordinary children were eager to stand by my side and flatter me when I was drawing pictures. While they were watching me sketch, he drew some sketches himself.
　　I had not heard anything about him for many years until when we met again in 2005. He used the computer to show me his ideas. I said, “I can describe our relationship this way. I am your teacher and an old artist. Although I am older than you, you seem like a master to me.” I thought he seemed to be a top painter in our country.
　　Some painters studying abroad became foreigners’ slaves obsessed with foreign paintings and totally admiring European works. Of course, we can study and draw on them. But I think he has had a long career as an artist. He studied at Central Academy of Fine Arts for 5 years, taught at Inner Mongolia Normal University for 2 years and studied in Germany at his own expense for 16 years. His heart is filled with the spirit of Chinese people constantly striving to become stronger and the blood of Mongolians, including the characters which resemble Mongolian characters, Phags-pa characters and seal script. He can make what is two-dimensional three-dimensional. I think this is a pioneering work and a rare precedent in China’s art circles. I was shocked when I saw it. He sent his album to me. I said I was shocked when I saw it. I said as an old generation artist, I felt this young generation artist was like a master.
　　The art creations in the world keep changing, but Yonggang stays calm despite the storm. What others are doing has nothing to do what he is doing. He always pursues artistic excellence no matter how chaotic and changeful the situation. I don’t know what the future holds, but it dawned on me that a man cannot dig many wells in his lifetime. While digging wells, if you think one well is the art treasure of a lifetime, you can dig it deep. Even though you fail or get frustrated, you should never stop digging. And you will surely find the art treasure of your own.
　　Blue-white porcelain works are to a certain extent works of performance art. They are works of destructive art. It’s great. An artist is not always that precise and rational in the process of creation. He can also play games sometimes. For example, blue-white porcelain works are very smooth. What will they look like if I smash them? He thinks of what others don’t, and I feel that if I were to collect something, I would never collect a perfect vase. I would collect a work of art that has been smashed, restructured and reframed.
　　Liu Yonggang is very clever. He is clever in important matters as well as trivial ones. If an artist is clever in important matters but not in trivial ones, he lacks good taste; if an artist is clever in trivial matters but not important ones, he lacks the ability to understand and will not achieve greatness. A good artist is often someone who is intelligent and whose ability to understand is strong. I think the ability to understand is different from intelligence in that intelligence is often manifested in trivial and minute aspects and the ability to understand important matters is a prerequisite for creating top works.
He is very confident, modest and mild-tempered. He has very crazy thoughts and knows how to love.
The thought of creating Hug of Love occurred to him when his love for a certain person became the love for the whole society and humanity. In a diverse art environment, he never went astray. He can dig several wells or dig only one well. This is not all. Integrity is more important still. I am very assured of his integrity. He is a very sensitive man. He stayed abroad for 6 years, and we met twice during that period. He hugged me warmly and hugged my son and wife every time we met. Some people do this to cover up or conceal his real purpose, but he is different. This is the spontaneous manifestation of his true feelings. I think such a person has a promising future. He pursues his own career as an artist and is a man of integrity. Since he is such a person, I think that he has a promising future. He is 42 years old now and will be 62 years old after two decades. Therefore, he is a very accomplished and learned artist.
This exhibition is very novel and heart-shaking. When you see his paintings on the easel and his three-dimensional works, you will find that he has followed the procedures in a very natural way. He never changes his course of action. His linear mode of thinking has never changed since when he was in Germany. Therefore, he has accumulated a lot of knowledge. Had he not gone to Germany for advanced studies and had he not studied traditional Chinese characters, his conditions would not be so great that he has made two-dimensional characters three-dimensional, which is a thinking process. This exhibition is very special. The two- and three-dimensional ones lying or standing on the ground are very interesting. They can capture the mind of the audience visually. These top serious works of art can capture the aesthetic mind of the public and suit both refined and popular tastes, which cannot be easily achieved. Most artists cannot achieve it. I think his career as an artist, including the audience groups and commercial operation, will be immensely successful.

　　Shang Zhenchun, an oil painter
　　In 1980, an art training course was given at Humeng People’s Art Gallery for the first time. My first impression of him was that he was very intelligent and eager to learn and ask questions. He wanted to get the bottom of everything.
　　It is his portrait sketch that impressed me the most. I drew a portrait sketch of a model. I finished it after the class was over at noon. He wanted to borrow it. “Mr. Shang, can I borrow this sketch and take a look? I want to examine it at noon,” he said. He wanted to borrow it and take a look at it during the short noon break, and returned it to me later. He studied very hard. Ordinary students did not think that way. Later, he drew a picture after my sketch. His sketch was almost identical to mine. He said, “Mr. Shang, which one is yours?” It took me a long time to find the differences between his sketch and mine.
　　I think his painting exhibition is very original and he is very passionate. The stone carvings of Hug of Love and those outside are especially imposing. When 102 works are put together, what will they look like? It seems that his art form has never been seen in Chinese and foreign art circles.
Sun Baoliang, a visitor and national grade one architect
　　I’m from Hangzhou. I visit the art museum every time I go to Beijing, because my profession is inextricably related to art. Our creative ideas about our buildings and some creative ideas about plans are related to art. I like our national art the most. The cultural spirit, human touch and social harmony we have proposed are all integrated and manifested in our art.
　　Spatial-calligraphy was near the entrance, so I took a picture of the sculpture. When I went in, an attendant told me that they would soon remove the exhibits. I asked them to let me stay for a while and told them I was not a frequent visitor. I said I wanted to learn about and study this form of art which was new and original. The artist made the characters stand through this means and form of art, and gave us a brand new creative idea and feeling. This is a very good way to promote and develop our national art and culture. We hope there will be more and more such masters in the future. We hope they will create more stunning works and make joint efforts to promote and develop our national culture. Only national art belongs to all people in the world. It is really heart-shaking. Making characters stand is an interpretation of our language and culture. I think it is truly a novel and creative idea. We need such works so much.